Mar-21 Liturgical Study for Fifth Sunday in Lent

 

Mar-21 Fifth Sunday in Lent

Jeremiah 31:31-34

The old covenant given to Moses by Yahweh was written on tablets of stone and intended for descendants of Judah dictating man's obligation to God. The new covenant by contrast is written on the hearts of all believers, Jews and Gentiles alike, founded on Christ’s eternal atonement for the sins of mankind and based on each individual’s personal loving relationship with God rather than one mediated through the institutional sacrifices and prayers of priests and prophets.

John 12:20-33

Jesus used the parable that a grain of wheat to produce fruit must first be buried in the ground and rise up as a stalk bearing ears of corn; so too, the most proper method of bringing about the conversion and salvation of the world is for Jesus to die, be buried and rise again. 

He warns his disciples that they were to expect persecution, even risk losing their life itself, but in that case he promised them a share in his crown and glory.

There is also John's version of the Lord's plea to his Father at the garden of Gethsemane: “Father, save Me from this hour; but Thy will, not Mine, be done; for this cause came I unto this hour, that Thy name be glorified; Father, glorify Thy name.”

Then came a voice from heaven; just as at his baptism and transfiguration, which came from the Father, acknowledging that Jesus had already glorified his Father's name by his ministry and that further glorification would come with his crucifixion and resurrection.

Finally when Jesus said "This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes", he tells something of great importance that the disciples, and the people generally, should understand that the sudden transition from his triumphal acclamation on Palm Sunday to his ignominious death on the cross, was not a defeat but a fulfilment of the Divine purpose.